sand, till they come to a layer of blue clay, and they draw the water, that springs forth immediately, so far down that the animals cannot reach it, into peculiar round cisterns, which they place close to the hole, and which form flat basins of half a foot or a foot deep, and six to ten feet in diameter. These basins are kneaded with clay to make them solid and compact, and then the cattle drink out of them. Such watering-places are indispensable near the springs, which, notwithstanding the basin-shaped depression of this whole country, are of a great depth, on account of the alluvial soil. In these situations we find not only birds which are scarcely seen anywhere except in the neighbourhood of water, but also the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, hyæna, and the lion with his family. They not only leave water behind in cisterns for this great and dreaded lord of beasts, but they also draw it afterwards, in order to detain him, that they may fetch him tender fresh calves-flesh from their houses, which is here his favourite food, as I convinced myself in Beshum, in the country of the Haddendas. It is a fable that the elephant dislikes the camel: I saw them both at Hauàthi drinking in the middle of the day, close to one another, out of two different holes. The elephant is said to be angry with the people if he find the cistern, from which he is accustomed to drink, choked up with earth by the wind or animals, and to attack the nearest village (as was the case some time since in Hauàthi), to overthrow everything he meets, to clear out the water-vessels, and not even to disdain the corn he may happen to find. Ahmed Basha could not spare any troops for our protection, on account of his being pressed so closely by the enemy. There were about sixty of us, including the mounted halberdiers of Suliman Kashef, who carried arms, besides unarmed servants, male and female slaves. The excellent light cavalry of the Shaïgiës, under the command of the bold Melek Mahmud, accompanied us only a short distance. These Shaïgiës are not at all of Arabian origin; they call themselves “Warriors of old of the soil,” and are still held memorable, even as knights, through their really daring and adventurous plundering excursions in these parts.